A severe air pollution event from field burning of agricultural residues in Beijing, China

Abstract

Air pollutant emissions from agricultural burning are observed every year after harvest in China. While agriculture is not the main contributor to air pollution in China, agricultural activities can cause severe pollution events. Recognizing the key mechanisms involved in this process offers an opportunity to minimize pollution events caused by agricultural burning. In this paper, we review the meteorological conditions present during a selected air pollution episode and discuss those conditions using standard meteorological observations. The spatio-temporal variations of PM2.5 concentrations following agricultural burning in Beijing were measured from October 4 to October 7, 2013. This time period coincides with a Chinese public holiday and was selected because the influence of other anthropogenic emissions on air quality was strongly reduced during those days. As a result, we were able to identify the key sources and progress of a severe air pollution event. On October 4, average PM2.5 concentration in Beijing continuously increased from 49.7 μg m–3 at 1:00 to 302.5 μg m–3 at 23:00. Heavily polluted air (> 300 μg m–3) initially appeared in southeastern Beijing on the afternoon of October 4. On October 5 and in the early morning of October 6, heavily polluted air masses moved into central Beijing, the inner suburbs, and the suburbs. From 0:00 on October 6 to 15:00 on October 7, the average PM2.5 concentration in Beijing decreased from 291.6 μg m–3 to 19.2 μg m–3. Active fire information derived from the MODIS sensors and back trajectory analysis show that field burning of agricultural residues after a harvest triggered and massively contributed to this severe air pollution event. The results improve our understanding of PM2.5 air pollution development processes, and they provide scientific support for the Chinese government to accelerate emission reductions from the field burning of agricultural residues.